An Ohio man has been charged with animal abandonment after a litter of six English bulldog puppies was found in a suitcase with a tag bearing his name, according to Humane Society authorities.

Cyndi Condit, spokeswoman for the Toledo Area Humane Society told Reuters Wednesday that the man, identified as Howard Davis of Toledo, lived only two blocks from where the suitcase was found.

The mother of the puppies was found pacing around the suitcase, which attracted the attention of a passerby.

Toledo Area Humane Society/Cyndi Condit/REUTERSEnglish Bulldog puppies play around their mother at the Toledo Area Humane Society in Maumee, Ohio.

“Howard’s name was on the tag of the suitcase and the mother was licensed to him,” Condit said.

After the dogs were found April 4 in a Toledo alley, Davis was charged with a second degree misdemeanor, which carries with it a maximum $750 fine and 90 days in jail, according to John Dinon, the Toledo Area Humane Society’s executive director.

Toledo Area Humane Society/Cyndi Condit/REUTERSEnglish Bulldog puppies play at the Toledo Area Humane Society in Maumee, Ohio.

Davis told investigators that he had given the dogs to a friend in Michigan and that the suitcase had in fact been stolen earlier. There was no explanation as to how the adopted dogs got back from Michigan in the stolen suitcase.

The puppies, three male and three female, are estimated to be four weeks old, too young to be separated from their mother, so they will spend at least another four weeks in foster care before they are eligible for adoption.

Toledo Area Humane Society/Cyndi Condit/REUTERSEnglish Bulldog puppies play at the Toledo Area Humane Society in Maumee, Ohio.

Dinon said the shelter has received an overwhelming number of calls about adopting the puppies but that for now they are “evidence” in the case against Davis.

He also added that Davis could have easily brought the dogs to the Humane Society and if he had, he would not be facing charges. “Anyone who can’t take care of any animal can come here and we will work with you,” Dinon said.

Toledo Area Humane Society/Cyndi Condit/Handout/REUTERSEnglish Bulldog puppies play at the Toledo Area Humane Society in Maumee, Ohio.

Toronto city council has put restrictions on the sale of cats and dogs in pet shops in a bid to undercut the puppy and kitty mill industry.

Now, retailers will only be able to sell canine and feline friends that came from shelters, humane societies, rescue groups or that were donated by someone.

“I think we’re the second major municipality in Canada to do this, so that from coast to coast, we’re going to protect dogs across this country,” said a jubilant Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker, who had championed the partial ban.

He did so cuddling two adorable black lab brothers that were brought in to City Hall to demonstrate the quality of animals available in shelters. Councillors dropped an original clause requiring the city to certify breeders because it was too complicated. The restrictions have no impact on breeders, said Mr. De Baeremaeker, who encouraged people buy their dogs at breeders.

“For all intents and purposes we’ve shut the taps to the puppy mills at retail locations in Toronto. We won’t eliminate them because people will still sell at Kajiji and there is other ways to sell puppy mill dogs, so those evil people will continue but there’s a lot less demand for their product,” said Mr. De Baeremaeker. “Eventually, hopefully, there won’t be any puppy mills at all.”

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/posted-toronto/council-puts-restrictions-on-pet-sales-in-bid-to-undercut-puppy-and-kitty-mill-industry/feed16stdKittens similar to this one will fall under the new restrictionsMan pleads guilty to animal cruelty for shooting puppies with nail gunhttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/man-pleads-guilty-to-animal-cruelty-for-shooting-puppies-with-nail-gun
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/man-pleads-guilty-to-animal-cruelty-for-shooting-puppies-with-nail-gun#commentsWed, 03 Aug 2011 23:14:13 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=83306

By Katherine Wilton

MONTREAL — A man who shot a Labrador retriever and two of her puppies with a nail gun pleaded guilty this week to four charges of animal cruelty.

Normand Girard, 52, of St.-Jean-sur-Richelieu, southeast of Montreal, was arrested last December after a woman reported him.

Outraged animal lovers had collected $3,000 in reward money to entice someone to identify the person who abandoned the mother dog and several puppies by the side of a country road three days before Christmas.

The mother and a puppy had been shot with a nail gun, the spikes driven into their skulls. Another puppy, that had also been shot, was found dead in a plastic bag two days later.

The mother dog and seven puppies survived the ordeal. All have since been adopted.

Postmedia News was unable to contact Girard on Wednesday. However, after his court hearing in Granby this week, Girard told a local reporter that he regrets his behaviour. He said his daughter left the mother Labrador with him against his will after she moved into an apartment.

Related

In early 2010, the dog had a litter of puppies which he managed to give away on the Internet.

But when the Labrador had a second litter later in the year, Girard says he had a lot of stress in his life and couldn’t deal with the dogs. He told La Voix de l’Est newspaper his wife was having medical tests; he was busy at work and was renovating a second home. He said his second attempt to give the animals away on the Internet was unsuccessful.

Girard said he tried to kill the dogs by gassing them with carbon monoxide, but they survived. He doesn’t possess firearms so he then tried to kill them using a nail gun. He fired a metal spike into the head of the mother and two puppies, but abandoned his plan after the animals remained alive. One puppy later died.

Girard said he panicked, loaded the dogs into his truck and dumped them on the side of the road.

Genevieve Sabourin, one of the people who found the distressed dogs, said she wonders whether Girard is really remorseful.

“If it really bothered him, he would have gone to the police himself,” she told The Gazette Wednesday.

When Sabourin arrived on the scene, the mother dog was aggressive and wouldn’t let her or her husband near her puppies.

But after they managed to put a leash on the mother, the dog became more calm. The dog pulled the couple across the street to show them another of her puppies abandoned in a ditch.

Sabourin took the wet puppy into her car and began to pat its head. It was then that she discovered the nails.

“It is a horror story,” she said.

Looking back, Girard said he knows he should have dropped the dogs off at a shelter.

The cruelty of his act ignited a storm of protest, and Quebec provincial police were called in to investigate. The woman who turned Girard in collected the $3,000 reward on the weekend. She wants to remain anonymous.

The woman came forward after making a link between news reports about the cruelty and Girard’s Internet ads for the dogs a few weeks earlier.

Girard returns to court on Jan. 4 for his sentencing hearing.

Crown prosecutor Erin Kavanagh said the maximum sentence Girard could receive is a $10,000 fine or 18 months in prison, or both.

The Crown will ask the judge to impose a prison term “because of the gravity of the infraction,” she said.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/man-pleads-guilty-to-animal-cruelty-for-shooting-puppies-with-nail-gun/feed1stdBox of cute puppies saved from roadside, and other news from the Easthttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/box-of-cute-puppies-saved-from-roadside-and-other-news-from-the-east
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/box-of-cute-puppies-saved-from-roadside-and-other-news-from-the-east#commentsMon, 25 Jul 2011 14:53:14 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=81114

An officer arrived and noticed the two-week-old puppies were moving and making noise. They were weak and dehydrated, but survived after the officer rubbed them to warm them up and then rushed them to a local veterinary clinic.

The puppies, which were left on the roadway for as long as 36 hours, are now in foster care. The SPCA has been flooded with requests from as far away as Ontario to adopt the pups, but they are still too young to be given away.

St. John’s

Kathy Dunderdale became the first sitting Newfoundland premier to run St. John’s annual Tely 10 road race on the weekend, running 10 miles (16 kilometres) in an hour and 49 minutes.

“I just feel great,” she told the CBC after finishing the road race between Paradise and Bannerman Park.

The premier has lost 100 pounds in the past year, giving new meaning to politician’s oft-repeated election promise to trim the political fat.

Pointe-à-Bouleau, N.B.

The New Brunswick community of Pointe-à-Bouleau is hoping a grant from the provincial government will help them eliminate the putrid stench from a local sewage lagoon. “When the wind is on the side, it’s really bad odours,” local MLA Claude Landry complained to the CBC. The province gave the region $500,000 for local improvements, of which the local service district council hopes $50,000 will go to alleviating the smell from the lagoon. The money will also go toward staging an outdoor musical, which might not seem the most obvious choice in a community grappling a stinky pond.

“It’s been great, I’ve had bishops friend me on Facebook, the bishop in Ottawa is blogging now,” the 40-year-old, who left a career as an executive at communications giant Ericsson in 1995 for the priesthood, told Postmedia News. “I mean we’re really getting behind the technology.”

He’s not the first in church to use technology to spread the word, Father Dowd wrote on his blog last week. “(Jesus) used the technology of his day to reach as many people as possible and he adapted the way he taught his messages. Like Marshall McLuhan said, with Jesus the medium really is the message.”

Fredericton

To celebrate two years of sobriety, Prince Edward Island’s Terrance MacDougall headed out for a camping trip in New Brunswick with his family. The festivities were cut short, however, when he was sentenced to eight months in jail for driving illegally.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/box-of-cute-puppies-saved-from-roadside-and-other-news-from-the-east/feed0stdWho would want to abandon a pile of adorable puppies? RCMP rescued seven husky-mix puppies from a roadside in New Brunswick.Boozy in British Columbia: What People Are Talking About In…http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/boozy-in-british-columbia-what-people-are-talking-about-in
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The Post compiles what’s making headlines (and conversation) across Canada. Below, what they’re talking about in…

British Columbia

A new study from the University of Victoria suggests more and more people on the wet, er, west coast are hitting the bottle, their rates of drinking rising quicker than those in other parts of the country. Alcohol was the cause of an estimated 2,000 deaths in B.C. in 2009, and accounted for more than 20,000 hospital visits as a result of falls, injuries or alcohol poisoning, the study found. The pace and increase is being seen across the province, regardless of age and gender, Dr. Tim Stockwell with the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C. told the CBC. There are, naturally, places in the province where the drinking rates are higher. “The North has the highest rates of deaths as well as hospitalizations from alcohol, whereas the Interior comes about second, Vancouver Island third — all of them are above average,” he said. “And below average is Vancouver … and the Fraser [Valley] area.” Maybe the persistent rainy weather across the province this summer might explain a heightened desire to drink.

Crossfield, Alta.

“Oh darn, this isn’t going to turn out good,” thought Nathan Anderson, mayor of small Alberta town Crossfield near Aidrie as his plane went down this week. The mayor and local adventure photographer just suffered minor cuts and bruises when the plane they were flying in to take promotional photos of a golf course crashed into a field, ducking power lines and hopping a fence on the way down. The two-seater biplane had barely taken off before it was caught in a downdraft it couldn’t get out of. The mayor, a pilot of 17 years, was at the helm and trying to find a safe place to land. “The landing gear hit the ground, the plane flipped over and we unclipped ourselves and slipped out of the plane,” Mr. Anderson told the Calgary Herald. “If we had hit the road, we would be dead and we were only feet from the power lines.” Close call, Mayor!

Winnipeg

When Gigi the Doberman Pinscher’s babies died a few weeks ago, she became despondent, refused to eat and had to be force fed. “She was very depressed. She loved her babies,” owner Lynn White told the CBC. Now, Gigi is happily embracing her second chance at motherhood, becoming the eager adoptive mother to a litter of Boxer puppies, whose mother died shortly after giving birth to the six wee pups. “We decided we would try to put the foster puppies with the Doberman,” Ms. White said. “It worked out fabulously. She took to the puppies right way and it was like a match made in heaven.” The pups have given Gigi has a new lease on life and the puppies now have a new mom to bond with: Talk about love in the face of tragedy.

Ottawa

That dog-chases-postman caricature may be funny to some, but a recent raft of dog bite injuries has Canada Post pleading with animal owners to keep their pets away from the postal workers. In the first 18 days of July, Canada Post employees have reported 41 dog bites across the country, some very serious, the crown corp said in a press release. “We train our people, make them aware of known risks on their routes and provide dog repellent to help protect them from dog bites, but we need dog owners to remember to keep dogs away from these delivery areas,” said Nikki Forest, Interim Vice-President, Collection and Delivery at Canada Post. “The responsibility is the same no matter how big or small, friendly or unfriendly the dog.” Ms. Forest also suggested the dogs may just be getting used to seeing postal workers again after the weeks-long strike in June. Maybe they’re just as peeved as their owners.

Summerside, PEI

A Prince Edward Island fisherman has been ordered to pay a $1,500 fine for possessing not guns or drugs, but two short, and illegal, female lobsters. Randy Edward Doyle, 36, pleaded guilty in a Summerside court Thursday to keeping the lobsters he caught on June 26 and which he apparently should have returned to the water due to their size and in order to keep up a healthy population for breeding. The Tignish-based fisherman said he wasn’t completely at fault: He didn’t know the tools he had bought to help determine the size of the lobsters had improper measurements. “With the measure we had we were throwing over good lobster,” said Mr. Doyle, who does not have a criminal record. “I’m sure we threw over more than $2,000 (worth of lobster). It was just my luck it had to be passed to my end.”

MONTREAL — A case of animal cruelty near the rural town of Lac-Brome, Que., has inspired an outpouring of sympathy, with rewards offered for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible for abandoning an injured dog and her brood of puppies.

According to the Sherbrooke Record newspaper, the female black Labrador retriever was found Dec. 22 on the side of a country road in the town, about 100 kilometres east of Montreal, with her seven pups stuffed into a bag nearby. The dog and several of the puppies had reportedly been shot in the head with a nail gun. Two of the puppies died from their injuries.

Two families in the area have offered rewards of $100 each for information that could help the police locate the perpetrators, the paper said. The adult dog, which survived her injuries and was being cared for at the local SPCA, has been adopted. Her surviving puppies will also be heading for new homes this week.

Anyone with information is being asked to contact the SPCA in Granby, Que., at 450-378-6006. Information can also be passed on to the Surete du Quebec, the provincial police force, at 1-800-659-4264.

If your dog destroys the furniture when you are away, it could be a pessimist, researchers have concluded. A study has found that some dogs are natural gloom-mongers while others have sunnier dispositions.

“We know that people’s emotional states affect their judgements and that happy people are more likely to judge an ambiguous situation positively,” said professor Mike Mendl, an author of the study and head of animal welfare and behaviour at Bristol University. “What our study has shown is that this applies similarly to dogs.”

To measure canine psychology, researchers trained dogs to recognize that bowls on one side of a room contained food, while bowls on the other side were empty. They then placed the bowls in “neutral” locations between the two sides. Just as happy people tend to see the positive in any situation, so optimistic dogs sprinted toward the bowl, expecting to find food, while pessimistic dogs hesitated or ran more slowly.

The study, published in Current Biology, which looked at 24 dogs at two UK animal centres, found that dogs’ temperaments correlated with their behaviour when separated from their owners. Dogs that saw the bowl as half-full were calmer when left alone, sure their owners would return, while pessimistic dogs were more likely to worry, bark and misbehave.

About half of the 10 million dogs in the United Kingdom show “separation-related behaviour” at some point, Mendl said.

Instead of getting rid of anxious dogs or ignoring them, owners should recognize that their dogs may have emotional issues and seek treatment for them, he said.